Our Great Fulltime RV Escape: Tuscon, AZ

Today was our last day of sightseeing in the Tuscon area. There is a LOT more to see and do but we're leaving on Thursday and must take care of some chores before we leave. Lynda and I have both enjoyed this area very much, and hope to be back sometime for a longer period of time.

After touring the Copper Mine in the morning, we had a quick lunch and then drove over to the Titan Missile Museum. There were originally 54 Titan II missiles sites - 18 each at Little Rock, Arkansas; Witchita, Kansas; and Tuson, Arizona. This preserved Titan II missile site, officially known as complex 571-7, is all that remains of the 54 Titan II missile sites that were on alert across the United States from 1963 to 1987.

Titan II in sile, taken through silo door hatch

We began by watching a short video that provided some Cold War context and history of the Titan II program. The US intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program started in the 1940s, as a key element in the Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) national security policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield weapons of mass destruction by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.

MAD is based on the theory of deterrence where the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy's use of those same weapons. Thankfully, this strategy worked and neither side had to launch any missiles.

Delivery system

After the video, we went on a one-hour guided tour of the missile silo. The 103-foot Titan II missile inside the silo has neither warhead nor has it ever been fueled, allowing it to be safely displayed to visitors. The tour was fascinating. I joined the Air Force five years before the Titan II missile program ended, and met a few airmen over the course of my career who had served as Titan II crew. So this was very real to me.

The Titan II missile program began in 1963 and ended in 1987. This missile offered significantly reduced response times to a launch command. Previous ICBMs, such as Titan I, required that liquid oxygen rocket fuel be loaded after the launch command, delaying missile launch by as much as 40 minutes. Titan II was fueled by two chemicals that were stable at around 60°F, allowing the missile to be fully loaded at all times - as a result, the Titan II could be ready to launch in less than 1 minute after the launch command. This missile could also be launched from within its protective silo - it took only a few seconds to open the 700 ton reinforced concrete silo door.

Missile Launch Control Center, 250-ft from missile silo

The Titan II silos were designed to withstand nearby hits by enemy nuclear missiles. Nothing built at that time could withstand a direct hit, but the Titan II silos were constructed to allow movement of about 20 inches in all directions and survive a shockwave. Blast door were 8-ft thick to protect the missile crew when the Titan II missile launched.

Titan II was the largest and most powerful ICBM every built by the United States. The missile's 9-megaton warhead could be delivered to targets more than 6,000 miles away in about 35 minutes, and was capable of devastating an area of about 900 square miles. Tital II packed a punch, to put it mildly, far greater than the atomic bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima (Little Boy) and Nagasaki (Fat Man).

Peace through strength.